Yumi Komagata The shield behind the sword
by willie-chan
Summary: An introspection to the one woman who gave her life for her beloved, in the moment where she finally says farewell to this world


DISCLAIMER: Rurouni Kenshin does not belong to me but to Nobouhiro Watsuki. I am merely borrowing it for entertainment purposes.  
  
Yumi Kamagata. The shield behind the sword. By Willie-chan  
  
I didn't lie when I told myself that Shishio-sama was invincible, I believed that statement with every piece of heart that I had left, and if not, it was perhaps that I wanted it to be truth so badly. I gave a slight look to the delicate string clock lying on my right hand. The fifteen minutes had passed long ago but how could I stop him from doing whatever was making him so happy? He hadn't enjoyed himself as much as he was doing it now for so long. I just had no right.  
  
The scent of blood invaded the space where the battle was taking place. I felt annoyed by it but neither of the others seemed to care, in fact they actually looked as if they were enjoying it. Specially him. How long had it been since Shishio-sama had been in a fight? Perhaps since the last encounter with Soujiro but that had been years ago and now, this battle was changing him. His eyes, they were flickering like a burning flame, they were more alive than before, even more alive than I could ever get them to be. That thought made me sad but there was no way I would let him see it.  
  
I was a kind of worried though, I had seen Himura drawing his sword before against Shinomori and Soujiro. He surely wasn't an easy opponent. But Shishio-sama was winning and that was the only matter that occupied my mind; I would not allow myself to be weak, not when he wasn't, not when he needed me the most, even if he would never show it.  
  
But I knew he did need me, just the way I needed him.  
  
AMAKAKERU RYU NO HIRAMEKI  
  
Those words echoed inside my head as images of Shinomori and Soujiro played themselves before my eyes. NO. Not Shishio-sama. And as if in answer to a devoted prayer, I saw him evade the slash. I sighed in great relief. Shishio-sama was invincible. Himura was lost now, and for the first time I felt nothing but gratitude towards Soujiro for saving someone's life.  
  
What? It couldn't be. Shishio-sama wasn't moving. In that very moment I understood what had Soujiro meant with the secret principle and that it was unstoppable once it had taken place and that the only way to prevent the opponent's death was avoiding the technique to take place in the first place... or having the swordsman perform it with a Sabakatou. The second hit wouldn't have the same effect if the sword didn't cut. Not everything was lost... Shishio-sama could still... No. He couldn't still win, but his life: he could still keep it if he wanted to but, on the other hand, he would have to sacrifice the battle.  
  
... He wouldn't...  
  
I saw him crash into the floor a few feet away from where the former Hittokiri was standing: tired, devastated but yet... smiling: He had been able to survive the secret principle of the Hiten Mitsurugi, the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki.  
  
"DON'T" I screamed as I placed myself in front of the Battousai's sabakatou "Please, don't" there was nothing inside my head but helping Shishio-sama and, willing to give up my own life for his, I begged with tears in my eyes so Himura would let him live. I knew he wouldn't beg himself and neither would he allow anyone to do it... But his life was more important than his hating me for doing it.  
  
An excruciating pain stroke from my back right into my stomach. Blood flowing from my insides and pooling itself around me. I heard an agonizing cry. I raised my sigh and saw more blood that wasn't mine but Himura's. It was then when I noticed that a katana had flown right through me into the Battousai's side.  
  
I smiled slightly when I realized it was Shishio-sama's sword.  
  
I felt cold, keeping my eyes opened required a growing effort so I simply chose to close them. Somewhere in the distance, I got to retain something about how Shishio-sama could do that to the woman who had loved him the most. But ow could Himura ever understand that it wasn't such a great sacrifice what I... what WE had done? "This woman understands me as much as I understand her, as no one in this world" was Shishio-sama's answer.  
  
I felt satisfied with his words and felt happy as well that, for the first time, I had been able to help him with the issue that he cared about the most. I tried to articulate a few final words, just so Shishio-sama would hear from my own lips what had remained unsaid for so long "I love you and if it shall be your destiny to go to hell, then this woman shall take ahead and wait for you in there".  
  
I wouldn't ask Himura to understand why we had reacted like that because I knew he never would understand it as I would never understand his love towards the Kamiya girl. I suppose it had been now my turn to explain why things between me and him would always be like that because, even if we never said anything, we both knew we were the purest lovers.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Hi there! This is the first fic I post en fanfiction.net and I hope many will come after this one. As I said, this is one of my first RK fics so please don't blame if I was unoriginal, but it's just that my brother has a certain obsession about Yumi and Shishio, so it kind of inspired me to write this one-shot. n_nU  
  
C&C welcome at willie_chan_himura@yahoo.com.mx Love feed back and Thanks for reading ^^ 


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